Study Finds In Vitro Fertilization Does Not Cause Developmental Delay

New research discovers children conceived via infertility treatments are no more likely to have a developmental delay than children conceived without such treatments.

The findings, from experts at the National Institutes of Health, the New York State Department of Health and other institutions are found online in JAMA Pediatrics.

Investigators believe their findings may help to dispel longstanding concerns that conception after infertility treatment could affect the embryo at a sensitive stage and result in lifelong disability.

The authors found no differences in developmental assessment scores of more than 1,800 children born to women who became pregnant after receiving infertility treatment and those of more than 4,000 children born to women who did not undergo such treatment.

“When we began our study, there was little research on the potential effects of conception via fertility treatments on U.S. children,” said Edwina Yeung, Ph.D., an investigator at NIH’s Eunice Kennedy Shriver National Institute of Child Health and Human Development (NICHD).

“Our results provide reassurance to the thousands of couples who have relied on these treatments to establish their families.”

Also taking part in the study were researchers from the University at Albany, New York; the New York State Department of Health, also in Albany; and CapitalCare Pediatrics in Troy, New York.

Researchers followed children in the Upstate KIDS study, an investigation that enrolled infants born to women in New York State (except for New York City) from 2008 to 2010.

Parents of infants whose birth certificates indicated infertility treatment were invited to enroll their children in the study, as were all parents of twins and other multiples. The researchers also recruited roughly three times as many singletons not conceived via infertility treatment.

As part of the survey, mothers were asked at four months after giving birth to indicate the type of infertility treatment they received. Options were as follows.

Assisted reproductive technology (ART), including:

in vitro fertilization — fertilization in a laboratory dish, after eggs and sperm are taken from the couple;

frozen embryo transfer — implantation of an embryo that had been previously frozen;

assisted hatching — placement of a microscopic hole in the zona pellicuda, the protein covering of the embryo;

gamete intrafallopian transfer — mixing of sperm and egg before placing them in the fallopian tube;

intrauterine insemination — placement of the sperm directly in the uterus via a narrow tube.

Parents also completed a questionnaire to screen children for developmental disabilities at numerous intervals throughout their children’s first three years of life: at four to six, eight, 12, 18, 24, and 36 months of age.

Overall, children conceived via fertility treatments scored similarly to other children on the five areas covered in the developmental assessments.

When the researchers considered only children conceived through ART, they found that they were at increased risk for failing any one of the five domains, with the greatest likelihood of failing the personal-social and problem solving domains.

However, twins were more likely to fail a domain than were singletons. So, when the researchers compensated for the greater percentage of twins in the ART group than in the non-treatment group (34 percent vs. 19 percent), they found no significant difference between the ART group and the non-treatment group in failing any of the 5 domains.

Of the children diagnosed with a disability at three to four years old, no significant difference was found between the treatment and non-treatment groups: 13 percent, compared to 18 percent.

Because it is not always possible to diagnose some forms of developmental disability by three years of age, the study authors will continue to evaluate the children periodically until they reach eight years of age.

Related Articles

About Rick Nauert PhD

Dr. Rick Nauert has over 25 years experience in clinical, administrative and academic healthcare. He is currently an associate professor for Rocky Mountain University of Health Professionals doctoral program in health promotion and wellness. Dr. Nauert began his career as a clinical physical therapist and served as a regional manager for a publicly traded multidisciplinary rehabilitation agency for 12 years. He has masters degrees in health-fitness management and healthcare administration and a doctoral degree from The University of Texas at Austin focused on health care informatics, health administration, health education and health policy. His research efforts included the area of telehealth with a specialty in disease management.